Rapunzel
by Lexi-chan13
Summary: AU. Avatar Korra has been told the outside world was dangerous due to a lie spun straight from her alleged mother's conniving tongue. When a mysterious thief finds his way in her safe haven, she experiences the world in an adventure full of danger, lies, truth, betrayal, and of course, romance. A LoK version of "Tangled" which neither I own.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: A Legend of Korra version of Rapunzel, centered around Tangled enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Legend of Korra characters or the "Tangled" plot. **

_Prologue:_

_Seventeen years ago, a tragedy struck the Southern Water Tribe: their newborn princess was stolen. The King and Queen searched the entire world for her, but to avail. The entire tribe was devastated. In traditional mourning style they waterbend a rainstorm every year on her birthday all over the world lasting from the time she was placed in her crib that night to the time her absence was discovered. The entirety of the United Republic mourned with the depressed King and Queen. _

_Far away in an isolated swamp, a woman named Hama cradling a bundle wrapped in blue fur trudged through the murky water with an evil grin. The old lady had been waiting for this day for nine months, and now she was to be a bender like the rest of her family. Avatar Aang could take bending away, so why couldn't the new Avatar give it to someone? This was her scheme as she made her way toward the tower she had paid to be constructed for her. No one would ever find her, and when she was positive that she had permanent bending, she'd kill the Avatar. _

"Korra, darling, wake up; breakfast is ready!"

Ice blue eyes opened, blinking away the darkness that sleep had left over. Said owner of eyes sat up, yawning and stretching her well toned muscled arms. Before getting out of bed, she braided her long brown hair so that it just brushed the backs of her ankles instead of dragging twenty yards on the ground behind her.

Dressing herself in her favorite Water Tribe outfit, the dark-skinned teen practically flew downstairs at the smell of crisp seal jerky waiting in the kitchen. Once she entered the room, an equally dark-skinned woman turned with a frying pan in her hands and smiled.

"Good morning, dear," the older woman greeted.

"Good morning, mother," was the drowsy answer.

"Do you know what day it is?"

"No," Korra said with a confused frown then thought for a moment. "Wait, it's my sixteenth birthday!"

Hama laughed as the excited teen threw her arms around her neck with glee, being careful to avoid the hot pan. The happy family calmed down and ate Korra's favorite breakfast with exuberance while chatting about the plan for the special day.

"First, I'm going to find your favorite flowers and gather them in a bouquet for the new vase I bought for you. Then, I'm going to ride to the town and get what I need to make your favorite dinner. After that, I'm going to teach you a very special dance that every Water Tribe performs on her sixteenth birthday. How does that sound?"

Korra smiled halfheartedly, and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

"Great, but—"

"Wonderful! I'll go right now so the flowers will be fresh all day!"

"Mother, I—"

"Come, come, dear, you can't expect me to get to the ground by just jumping can you?"

"Mother!" Korra shouted. Hama had already been half out the window before stopping and turning with a questioning glance.

"Actually…I wanted to do something else today."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"I want to dance in the rain. Just once, I want to go outside for a few minutes and feel what it's like. I mean, it's what a bunch of girls do in the books."

Hama stood slowly, approaching with a frown. As her shadow loomed over her daughter, she placed her hands firmly on her shoulders.

"Korra, I've told you a thousand times that it's far too dangerous to go outside, especially in the swamp. No one knows what's out here," said the parent with an even tone.

"Then why do we live in such a dangerous place?" Korra shouted, her fiery temper kicking in.

"Because, you're safe from the rest of the world here with me. As the Avatar, you are deemed a worldwide enemy because of what your predecessor has done by forcefully uniting all the nations with the threat that he would use his power to punish us even after death. Not only that, but people want you for your powers. After all, you're the only being in the world that can bend all four elements."

Korra looked down, "I know."

Her mother lifted her chin, "why is dancing in the rain so special?"

"Well, it rains at a certain time for a certain amount of hours every year on my birthday. I figured it meant something special, like it was a kind of present to me from nature because I love the rain."

Hama smiled, brushing back her daughter's seemingly endless long brunette hair.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I love you far too much to let you risk your life out there."

"But mother, don't you risk your life every time you go out?" She asked matter-of-factly with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, but I'm at less of a chance of getting killed because I'm not a wanted enemy and I know my ways around the swamp. Now, why don't you paint me a new picture in my room? The old one's getting kind of boring," Hama said as she retraced her steps back to the window.

"All right, be careful. I love you mother," Korra said as she undid her braid, shook it out, and draped it over the hook outside the window. Hama blew her a kiss and slid gracefully down the soft chocolate waterfall to the ground.

After watching her mother go, the Avatar sighed as she retracted her hair and braided it once more. _Well, I'd better get started on my daily chores_, she thought.

Quickly, Korra became immersed in her everyday routine of cleaning up the kitchen with waterbending after breakfast, lighting the tower with firebending, rearrange the furniture with earthbending, dusting and sweeping with airbending, and finally making her and Hama's beds. During this process, she's become used to singing and humming the songs her mother had taught her to have more fun. Her fire ferret, Pabu, usually awoke around this time to remind her to give him breakfast leftovers. As if on cue, a scarlet blur flashed before her eyes and she felt a furry creature scale her body to wrap around her shoulders.

"Morning, Pabu. Hungry?" Korra asked chuckling. She placed the bowl she had filled with the scraps on the ground for him, and he jumped down to shove his furry face in it. Korra laughed again, continuing with her chores and seeing her favorite song at the top of her lungs. Little did she know that her singing this day would unleash a chain of events that would change her life forever.

The South Water Tribe castle guards stood erect, silent, and each had a perfected stony look that would rival even the Gorgons'. Unknown to them, a group of three teenage boys perched on the roof above them waiting for the opportune moment. When the patrol guard was safely out of earshot, each boy reached down and covered their respective guard's mouth and nose with a cloth soaked in a liquid that would knock them unconscious. When each armored man had been gently lowered to the ground to not make a sound, the trio untied themselves from the ropes holding them to the roof and landed on the icy ground without a sound. Immediately they scanned the guards for the key that would unlock the sacred room they so desperately needed to be inside of. Finally, after painstakingly long seconds, one of the boys found the precious item and shoved it into the keyhole.

The door did not open.

Cursing, the one holding the key stepped back for his fellow waterbending accomplice to try. With a few swift movements and snappy observations there was a loud "clang" as the lock slid away and the door opened. Their mental clocks ticked away as the waterbender slipped inside while the other two stood guard.

Inside stood a pedestal, to which a box was sitting on. The odd thing about the room wasn't its sole contents, but the constant rain that seemed to come from nowhere in the ceiling. The ground wasn't wet, either, because the rain seemed to disappear a few inches from ice floor. Cautiously, the boy stepped forward and waterbended the ice box away, revealing a glorious sight: a silver tiara made of a metal that held a watery sheen, decorated with an unfamiliar blue stone and topped with a large white pearl. Shaking his head, the teen grabbed the tiara and shoved it inside a ready bag.

"Tahno, we've got company!" Shouted Mako, the firebender of the group. Tahno, the waterbender, quickly went over the options: _go outside and attempt to fight our way out with the most likely chance of getting thrown behind bars, or escape myself with the treasure. Hmm…I like the idea of _not_ going to prison._ He waved his hand in an arc over his forehead, and the ceiling opened up for him to jump out of. Without a second glance he ran across the rooftops with expert feet that were used to ice. He ended up at the docks and found their escape boat, jumping into it and propelling himself away with a push of his hand to create a wave. He spun his arm behind him, creating a constant propulsion of the boat like he had been taught in the swamp. _The swamp!_ He thought excitedly, _that's where I'll hide out until I know what to do. But I can't go back to my family, there's no way I'm ever seeing their filthy faces again. I'll just find a new place, _he decided.

Miles and miles passed as he was farther and farther away from the South Pole when he felt the familiar spiritual pull of his home. He was close now, maybe about a hundred miles from the swamp.

Hours passed, and Tahno was absolutely exhausted. He decided to drift toward the swamp, which he could faintly make out the outline of from where he was. His gaze shifted down to the bag that held the tiara, and he decided to look at it again. The blue stones were a light cerulean hue, and the milky white pearl at the uppermost loop glistened in the sunlight. Entranced, he brought up a hand to rub away a smudge on one of the azure stones and then gently put it back in the bag.

"The lost princess, huh?" He thought aloud.

Rumor was the tiara had been ordered as soon as they found out the baby was a girl. The King and Queen hadn't decided on a name at the time of her birth, so she was simply called "The Lost Princess" to the world. Briefly he imagined the King and Queen's crestfallen faces when they discovered yet another theft that coincidentally had to do with their beloved daughter, but pushed it away before he could feel any guilt. He ran a hand through his wavy hair, smoothing out his bangs. It was going to be a long day.

When Tahno reached shore, he destroyed the boat in case Mako, Bolin, or the Royal Guard would trace his whereabouts. Then, he began his trek through the swamp in search of his new temporary home. Old instincts kicked in, like making sure to go through the trees if possible, never be in water deeper than your knees, and always be aware of every sound. He tuned his ears and listened to the daily swamp life: giant flies buzzing, vines swishing with the occasional breeze, frogs croaking, splashing from various fish and eels, catgators hissing.

He was most definitely home.

Smirking slightly at the familiarity, he began his search. For what seemed like hours, he wandered with keen silver eyes for either an abandoned hut or a nice place to make one from scratch. Or, preferably, a mansion with plumbing and electricity that he was used to. However, he found nothing of the sort and lounged in a tree eating what little food he could gather.

Suddenly, his eyes perked up at an unfamiliar sound. He turned toward it, trying to make out what it was. A female voice, singing. _I know the swamp is spiritual and can cause illusions and visions and whatnot, but that's the most random thing I've heard of all day. _He finished off his fruit and pocketed the remaining sustenance, determined to see if this singing was real. The skilled waterbender followed the beautiful voice with his well trained ears, and was shocked when he found it coming from a waterfall. Raising an eyebrow, he plunged his hand through it and felt not stone, but air on the other side. Without a second thought for the second time that day, he plunged through the cascade and was shocked at the sight before him.

There in the middle of the swamp was a tall tower, and from the window he could hear the voice he'd been following. He approached the building, looking for a door but didn't find one. _That's odd…_ So, he decided to waterbend himself up using the swamp water (with the mental note to clean himself as soon as possible, who knows that that water contained) through the window. When he straightened up, he was hit was a massive wall of pure pain and blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Korra was frozen with fear. Not entirely of the intruder, but the fact that her first impulse was to hit him and she had no idea what to do. She half considered tossing him out the window, but she didn't want to kill him. And he had waterbended up here! The Avatar hadn't met another person, let alone a bender, besides Hama her entire life. Her mother hadn't told her what to do if there was an intruder! A shimmer caught her eye, and she looked down. Partially inside a sack around his arm laid a gorgeous Water Tribe tiara. Korra bit her lip, desire to touch the artifact overwhelming her better judgment. Before doing so, however, she poked the stranger's forehead to see if he would stir. Smirking that he didn't, she snatched the tiara and ran to the mirror. Raising an eyebrow at it, she looked at her reflection. Where was this thing supposed to go? She held it up to various spots but to no avail, until she held it up to her temple. Watching herself, she placed it perfectly on top of her head. She looked like one of the princesses in her childhood picture books.

A groan came from behind her, and she instinctively bended a rock at his head again. Wincing at the thought of a future lump on his head, she used her earthbending again to create a chair under him, sitting him upright and trapping him with a string of rocks.

Later on when he woke, she had a waterwhip aimed at his head. He frowned, blowing the hair out of his eyes to get a better look at this girl. And he certainly liked what he saw: perfectly curvaceous body, strong enough with visible tone, pretty face, luscious hair rivaling his own, piercing cerulean eyes, and gorgeous chocolate skin.

"Put it down, little girl, I'm not here to hurt you or anythin'. Calm down," he said in his velvety drawl.

"Oh, yeah? What else could you be here for besides torturing, murdering, or kidnapping me?"

"What? Why on earth would I want to do that?"

"That's what my mom told me people would do to me…" she trailed off.

Korra got a decent look at him now that he was awake: lanky body, pale skin, black stuff around his silver eyes, long lashes, wavy hair that dared you to stroke it. Surprisingly pretty good-looking if she did say so herself, not that she had anyone to compare him to.

"So, you're not here to kill me because of Avatar Aang?"

"Avatar Aang? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Maybe because he's my predecessor that forced the world into one nation and threatened to unleash his power if the people tried otherwise?"

"I'm being imprisoned by a lunatic," he mumbled.

Tahno stretched, realizing he was in a chair made of rock.

"Where did this thing come from and why am I in it?"

"I bended it," she said proudly.

Tahno frowned. "You were bending water only a few moments ago."

"I can bend earth too. And fire. And air," Korra listed as if it was the most natural thing in the world to her.

The bender with one element thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head and his jaw was going to drop to the floor. This crazy girl was the Avatar.

"You're the Avatar."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"You're. The. _Avatar_," he enunciated.

"So. What?" She mocked.

"Where have you been the last sixteen years?"

"Um, right here."

Tahno blinked and looked around. They were in what he assumed to be the living room, and to the left was the kitchen with a set of stairs presumably leading to her bedroom or the bathroom. There was no opening but the one window. Then it struck him that all the walls and ceilings were painted with different scenes and designs.

"You've lived here your whole life?"

"Yep, pretty much. It's just been my mother and I all this time."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah, she—"

"Korra!" Rang out a second female voice from outside.

The Avatar stared at the window like she'd been caught out of bed after bedtime, and quickly bended Tahno—chair and all—underneath the floor.

Quickly she scrambled to hide the tiara and the bag she'd taken from him and then obediently lowered her hair out the window. Hama hung on and Korra pulled her up with her strong arms.

"Oh, look what I found! I had to show you at once. It's that rare dragon fruit I told you about, remember?"

"Oh, uh, wow," Korra faked.

Hama chuckled and came in, sitting down in a chair with an exaggerated groan.

"Darling, be a sweetie and give me a healing session, it's awfully humid out there and it just sucked my energy away."

"Of course, mother."

Korra gathered water from her satchel and bended it around her mother's entire body. Then, she summoned the other three elements and together they glowed and disappeared into Hama's skin, restoring its youthful sheen.

"Um, mother?"

"Yes, dear?" Hama said while admiring her own reflection in the mirror in front of her.

"You know how you always said I'm powerful but in the swamp I'd be like a sitting turtleduck waiting for the next catgator to eat me?"

"This isn't about the rain again, is it?"

"Well, not really, but sort of—"

"Korra, drop it. I won't speak to you about it again."

"But mother, please—"

"You're not going outside not today, not tomorrow, not _ever_!" Hama shouted.

Silence filled the room as Korra's face adopted that of hurt. Her mother sighed, rubbing her temple with her fingers.

"Well, I know what I want for my birthday."

"What's that?" Hama asked exasperated.

"A panda lily like you brought me once. I could make a new painting of a bunch of them in your room if you want."

"Korra, that's a very dangerous journey. Are you sure _that's_ what you want? No new brushes or paints or a new pet?"

"That's what I want. Please?"

Hama sighed, smiling in defeat as she embraced her daughter.

"Anything for you, my little Avatar."

And like that, her mother left once more. Korra sighed again, disappointed that she was unable to prove herself. She watched her mother ride off into the distance on Naga, their polar bear dog, and disappeared beyond the mist.

A few flicks of the wrist bended Tahno back into the room, gasping for breath. Korra bit her lip in embarrassment when she realized she'd forgotten to give him any way to breathe.

"Sorry about that, I, uh, forgot," Korra chuckled.

"Forgot that trapping someone upside down underground meant that they didn't need to breathe?" Tahno grit out between gulps of oxygen.

"Y-yeah, kind of."

"Ugh, you messed up my hair too."

"Here, let me—"

"Oh no, no you don't. _No one_ touched Tahno's hair besides Tahno," he declared.

_This guy is _weird_!_ Korra thought.

"So your name's Tahno, huh?" She asked, switching the subject.

"Yeah; what's yours?"

"Korra."

"Nice to meet you, _Uh-vatar Korra_," Tahno purred.

Naturally, it had the desired effect of making his target blush. Now all he needed to was sweet talk his way out of this chair and out of this tower. He raked his eyes over her body, turning her dark skin even more red. She looked about seventeen or eighteen, he judged. Maybe he could win her over by being honest and saying he's on the run. Girls like the bad boys, after all, and he was surely the top of the list now after stealing the tiara—the tiara!

"Where's my bag?"

"I hid it," Korra stated triumphantly.

"Let me guess: in the closet."

Korra paled and knocked him out with another rock to the head, scrambling to re-hide the tiara.

When Tahno woke up again several minutes later, the first thing he said was:

"Would you please stop doing that?"

"Only if you stop giving me a reason to."

Tahno rolled his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek to distract him from his aching head. He scanned the room with calculating eyes, seeing no sign of any change besides the closet being opened and closed. He looked up, down, left, right, and not a clue. Unless…

"You hid it underneath us, didn't you?"

"Dang it! How'd you know?"

"Don't make it so easy to guess," he drawled with a smirk.

"Why do you have that thing anyway? It's not like it was meant for a guy to wear."

"That's none of your business."

"There's no way you could be giving it to someone, you're too rude for that. You don't look like a delivery boy. Wait…did you steal it?"

"Bingo, baby."

"Stealing is wrong! You have to return it!"

"Oh? Who's going to make me, you?"

"That's right."

"Well I can hardly be made to return it if I'm stuck here in this chair."

Korra flicked her wrist and released the string of rocks that bound him to the earthen seat. He stood, stretching, and quickly took a fighting stance. Korra looked surprised, but copied him. She had no idea how to fight, but she was sure going to try.

Tahno took the first shot, lashing out a water whip to her feet to knock her off balance, but she quickly recovered with a push from the air underneath. She kicked out, releasing a stream of fire toward his feet to make him jump. To her disappointment, he only jumped toward her while freezing her foot to the ground and an ice fist aimed for her face. The Avatar met the punch, shattering it with rock and kneeing him in the stomach. He doubled over, only to grab her around the waist and push her to the ground. They landed in a heap as he froze her limbs to the ground.

Korra's eyes widened as Tahno lowered his body so that it pressed fully against hers, his face only an inch from hers.

"You sure can dance, little girl, but you don't know how to fight. Why don't I give you a few _lessons,_" he whispered huskily.

She frowned, and breathed a gust of wind so that he flew up and hit the ceiling. She froze him there and put her hands on her hips with a determined look. She was not going to let this pervert get his way.

"I'll give you a deal. I'll give you your tiara back, where under my supervision you will return it, bring me back home, if you take me to see the ceremony."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because otherwise you're never getting that back, and you'll feel the wrath of my mother."

Tahno almost laughed, but he decided he'd humor the girl just a little. She'll be begging him to take her back home the second she sees a catgator.

"Alright. Now, can I come down now?"

"Really? Awesome!" Korra whooped, jumping in the air. Tahno cleared his throat, reminding her that he was on the ceiling and she quickly released him. Of course, he fell on his precious face. Korra gasped and ran to him, turning his body over and seeing his nose bleeding.

"You've really got to stop injuring me for no reason, it's doing wonders to my ego," Tahno said with a glare.

"Here, let me heal you," Korra suggested.

Tahno began to object, but the second he felt the cool water on his face he sighed with relief. The blood receded and the pain was gone, leaving his perfect nose righted again. When she judged the healing was done, she helped him stand.

"Well? Are we going or not?"

Korra nodded excitedly, and Tahno proceeded to walk to the window. When he didn't hear her follow, he turned and told her to watch him. He reached his hand out, and called water from the swamp below up to him. Then he leaped out and bended himself down with a reverse whirlpool-like movement.

"Alright Uh-vatar, your turn," he called up.

"I'd rather just use my hair, thank you," she called back as she looped it over the hook on the wall.

Tahno threw her a questioning look and his face transformed into the same one as earlier when she'd said she was the Avatar. She quite literally used her hair to slide down the tower walls. He came back to earth as he noticed that she was about to fall into the swamp water, and rushed forward to pull her close to him. He smirked down at her when she realized how close they were, and she pushed him away again.

"After you, sweetheart," he said gesturing to the tiny path of grass in front of them once she finished re-braiding her hair. Hesitantly, she took a step forward with her bare foot. It sunk into the ground. Quickly, she retracting her limb and jumped back against Tahno, who steadied themselves from falling. Again.

"What? It's just a little mud. Or are you scared?"

"I'm not scared of anything!" Korra retorted.

"Whatever you say, sweetheart. We should travel through the trees, follow me."

Tahno lifted his skilled arms, bending a wave to lift him off his feet and into a nearby tree. The Avatar hesitated at first, but copied his movements and landed in the tree gracefully next to him. He smirked, and showed her how to swing on a vine to the next one. A quick learner, she did exactly as he did. Thus, Korra's very first adventure begun.


End file.
